[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 23, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E706]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PROTECTING THE MEDICAID SAFETY NET ACT OF 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 22, 2008

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5613, the 
Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act. This important bill would place 
a moratorium on seven harmful medicaid regulations. Medicaid provides 
valuable services to some of our nation's neediest children and 
families and these regulations would severely impact state budgets and 
ability to continue to offer the same level of services. If these 
regulations are implemented, California could lose up to $12.5 billion 
in Federal Medicaid funds over the next 5 years. In a growing 
recession, this is the last thing we should be doing. Instead, we 
should be helping states help those who need access to the medicaid 
services.
  To succeed, every child needs access to the best opportunities. A 
quality education can help these children succeed, but too many 
children come to school with other issues that need to be addressed: 
They haven't had breakfast or a meal since the before the weekend, they 
have been sick and need medication but lack health insurance, or they 
need some kind of additional help and therapy because of disabilities. 
These children depend upon the coordination of the state and schools to 
connect children to these services.
  A school nurse can help connect a student and his or her family to 
Medicaid services and help him or her through the enrollment process to 
ensure that the student can receive asthma medication, eyeglasses, 
preventative care, or emergency healthcare to come to school and focus 
on learning. One of these regulations would cease the Federal 
Government's reimbursement to States for this service. Less outreach 
will mean fewer children will receive Medicaid services. As we move 
deeper into an economic recession, more families may lose jobs and 
health insurance. More children will need access to Medicaid, not less. 
Schools are a great place to find these children and walk their 
families through the process to enroll in Medicaid to ensure no child 
will go without important medical care.
  Under the Individuals With Disability Act (IDEA), schools are 
required to provide specialized services to students with disabilities, 
such as speech and physical therapy. The schools have been allowed to 
be reimbursed by Medicaid for the cost in transporting the students to 
these various services. One of the new regulations would eliminate this 
reimbursement. This would be a terrible burden upon these schools that 
are already short on funds. We need to help schools get students the 
education and services they need, not make it more difficult for 
schools to help these students.
  These are just two of the seven Medicaid regulations that will do 
more harm than good and two examples of why we need to pass H.R. 5613 
and place a moratorium on these regulations for the time being. I urge 
my colleagues to support H.R. 5613.

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